1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to dishwashing appliances and, more particularly, to a screening arrangement for a dishwashing appliance, and an apparatus associated therewith.
2. Description of Related Art
The effectiveness of a dishwasher may often be directly related to conditions associated with the water used thereby for cleaning dishware and other items. Generally, a dishwasher implements a gravity-fed sump for receiving water from the house water source, wherein the water is circulated by a circulation pump from the sump through the spray arms or other water-distribution provisions of the dishwasher for removing soils from the dishware therein. After removing the soils and other debris, the water is typically directed through a series of straining/screening/filtering mechanisms prior to being re-circulated through the hydraulic system of the dishwasher.
One such straining/screening mechanism is commonly referred to as a “glass trap,” which is often configured to strain, screen, or remove large particles (i.e., broken glass, bones, etc.) from the water before the water is further directed toward the sump to other filtration measures for removing finer soils. In this regard, the glass trap generally permits passage of soils therethrough that are of a size capable of moving through the drain system (e.g., hoses, orifices, pumps, valves, etc.) of the dishwashing appliance, while preventing passage of larger soils/objects that are not capable of moving through the drain system. Some current glass trap designs use shelf-like members (i.e., a perforated member having a significant horizontal surface area) to screen large particles from passing therethrough toward the sump. The horizontal surface area may include, for example, upper surfaces of the frame of the glass trap, upper surfaces of the intersecting members forming the straining/screening grid, or the upper surface of any component disposed below the grid of the glass trap. In some cases, this may desirably result in large objects being retained and prevented from entering the sump and/or drain system. Such large objects may be manually removed from the glass trap at the end of the dishwasher program/cycle.
However, due to the structure of some glass traps, certain types of smaller soils (e.g., coffee grounds, partially ground corn) may be retained by and on the horizontal surface area of the glass trap. Such retained soils, both dissolvable (e.g., corn) and indissolvable (e.g., coffee grounds), may be small enough to pass through the drain system of the dishwasher, but, since retained by and on the horizontal upper surfaces of the glass trap, may sometimes be re-deposited onto the dishware. That is, the moving wash water from the spray arm(s)/tub portion may act upon such retained soils, whether dissolvable or indissolvable, disposed on the horizontal upper surfaces of the glass trap, and cause the resulting contaminants to splash back up onto the dishware. This soil re-deposited on the dishware may thus result in a lower cleaning efficiency of the dishwasher. Such smaller soils may include, for example, partially ground corn kernels and coffee grounds, both of which may be readily retained by and on horizontal upper surfaces (i.e., the above-described “horizontal surface area”) of the glass trap, even though such smaller soils may be small enough to pass through the glass trap and the drain system.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved screening/filtering arrangement for a dishwashing appliance that is less prone to retaining smaller soils (i.e., those soils that are capable of passing through the glass trap and the drain system of the dishwasher) removed from the dishware and, instead, is configured to more readily direct such smaller soils therethrough toward the sump, while still being effective in screening and retaining larger objects/soils (i.e., those objects/particles not capable of passing through the drain system of the dishwasher) so as to prevent such larger objects from passing therethrough toward the sump.